Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination and the kids names.

a/n: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the last chapter, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry i haven't posted this before and I know I said that it would be long but I really struggled to write this chapter and honestly, I don't think it's my best work but I hope you guys enjoy it anyways.


The next weeks following the slumber party at Kelly and Shay's were a bit chaotic. Gabby had been living at Matt's more often now and their set-up was less than ideal but they made it work. On the days that Matt had shift, there was no longer any need to have them babysat at Christie's but they were getting to have another kind of problem.

"Matt, we need to fix this problem."

"What's wrong babe?" He walked out of the bathroom with Valentina after tub time.

"My car isn't big enough anymore."

"Well isn't your mom taking care of Valentina in the mornings?" He set her down and grabbed a sippy cup out of the fridge for her, joining Gabby in the living room while she folded clothes.

"Yes but it's getting complicated for her too. It's out of her way to come all the way here every morning."

"I guess that we should go shop for a new car." He sat next to her and folded all the small pieces of clothing.

"We don't have money for that Matt."

"Well I figured we could trade in yours and maybe get a 7 place SUV or a minivan."

"I hadn't thought about it that way but it could work."

"And I can take a few extra construction jobs to compensate.

"Matt, you shouldn't have to work more so we can manage a new car."

"Gabby, when I asked you to move in with me, I didn't do it so you can keep taking care of everything alone. We're in this together so we share the responsabilities too." Gabby leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled. "I'm so used to taking care of everything by myself that its become second nature.

"I don't mind giving you a reminder every once in a while." He poked her sides, elliciting soft giggles to escape her lips.

"You are something else Matt Casey." She smirked.

"And that's why you love me." He gave her his heart melting grin.

"Oh I love you alright." She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him to her for a kiss. It was innocently sweet at first but Gabby quickly became turned on and deepened it, a moan getting caught in her throat.

"EEEWWWWW." Matt pressed his forehead to Gabby's. "Dad, that's gross. You could at least do that somewhere else."

"Don't tell me, I scarred you for life right?" He peeked behind Gabby to find Grace standing there.

"Duh!" She exclaimed, walking past them to go into the kitchen.

"When did she become miss attitude?" Gabby watched her walk past them, wondering where this was suddenly coming from.

"Oh I wouldn't worry to much about that. They started school. They're bound to pick up some less than acceptable things from there. Just as long as they don't start yelling at us." he chuckled.

"I guess you're right." She kissed him again before they returned to folding some of the kids clothes.

They watched Valentina while she ran around in the living room, laughing. "Maybe she'll tire herself out." He numbed his shoulder against hers.

"Speaking of tiring themselves out. I think it's time to get the kids ready to bath and bed." She raised herself from the couch.

"I'll get them. Why don't you tuck Valentina in?"

"Thanks babe." She kissed him. "Come on little princess." She scooped up a giggling Valentina. "It's time for bed."

Matt smiled at how adorable the two were before he headed to the basement where all four kids were watching a movie. With a little proding and finally using his serious voice, all four kids made their way upstairs to the bathroom. He ran the shower and one after the other, they went in to get cleaned, Gabby helping them with the pj's once they were done. Everyone squeazed into the couch for the customary half an hour of television before teeth brushing and bed, leaving both adults alone.

"I'm exhausted." Gabby said later that night when she and Matt were getting ready for bed.

"You've been taking care of five kids every morning since I asked you to move in with us, I'd be exhausted too." He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Yeah well you're working really hard to save lives." She turned around to face him.

"And I think we make a pretty good team." He leaned down to kiss her.

"I think so too." She pulled away from him to slip under the covers. "So I was thinking." She snuggled into his side as he laid down next to her.

"Uh oh, careful now." He smirked, earning himself a slap on the chest. "Ok, I'm listening." He said more seriously this time.

"We haven't really talked about looking for the new house, what we're looking for."

"I know but we've been really busy. What did you have in mind?" He ran a hand through her hair.

"Well we at least need four rooms on the same floor. It's not as if we can send one of the kids in the basement, they're too young."

"I agree. Maybe we can look for an unfinished basement and I could make two rooms so that when they're older, we'll be able to send which ever two who wants to go down there."

"That could work."

"Now that that's settled, I'll get in touch with my realtor in the morning so we can look to put this house on the market and look for a new one."

"Great idea."

"I told you we were a good team." He positionned himself over her and smiled.

"How about you just show me how good a team we are." She smiled seductively, Matt wasting no time in capturing her lips in a wanting kiss, the two thoroughly enjoying the alone time they were getting right now.

As promised, as soon as Matt had a few minutes between calls the next morning, he made a call to his realtor Nate so he could look up some interesting properties for them. The kids were almost done with school for the summer and both Christie and Gabby's parents had agreed to keep the kids to help them out while they house hunted and planned two sets of birthday parties over the course of the two summer months off school.

A lot of possibilities were offered to them by Nate and they even visited a few of them during their days off shift but nothing seemed to fit the description of what they needed.

"Are we ever going to find a new place?" Gabby was starting to think they'd never find the perfect place.

"This stuff takes time babe." He kissed her kneck while she prepared dinner. "We're a lot of people to fit into one house. If we're patient, the right place will be waiting for us, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Matt Casey."

"Oh I'll keep that one."

"You better. So I was thinking about summer and birthdays."

"What has your brilliant smile cooked up this time?" He stood next to her and helped her with dinner.

"Since the twins birthdays are not too far apart, I was thinking maybe we could have one giant party outside with some hot-dogs and balloons, maybe a piniata and lots of presents. What do you think?" This idea had been going around in her head for a while now and she was hoping it could all give them a small break from the routine at the same time.

"I think that's a great idea actually. It's been a crazy year for everyone so I think we all deserve it."

"Than it's settled. I'll probably enlist Shay, Christie and Laura to help me out."

"Uh oh. I will let you ladies have all the fun then." He chuckled. Gabby was already a one woman wrecking crew so just imagining all four of them organizing something together, he wouldn't dare to get in their way.

"Your damn right about that. No way I'm letting you close to that party planning." She gave him a sweet bump against his hip. "Hopefully by then we'll have something interresting on the house front."

"Let's take care of the car problem first, what do you say?"

"Good idea."

School was coming to an end and Gabby was glad that they had found a new car to be able to bring all the kids around. They had traded her car for a seven place suv, allowing them to also be able to lug around all their things if they needed too. They still hadn't found anything interresting house wise but with school over in less than two weeks, they had enough to occupy their off days with.

Two weeks later - last day of school

Matt and Gabby were happy to be off on the day the kids were having their last day of kindergarten, making it easier for everyone.

"I was thinking that we could head to the navy pier after we pick up the kids for pizza and ice cream, what do you think?" Matt asked her as they lazied out in the yard, the weather getting warmer as the day went on.

"I think that would be great. It's warm outside and they're done with their first real school year so I think it's a good reason to celebrate."

"We can pack some toys for Valentina and they can stay up later tonight."

"Hhmmmm, I like that." She snuggled into his side on the long chair.

"We're doing good don't you think?"

"I'm glad that I'm in this with you."

"What's on your mind?" Something was off but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Just that I'm happy. I never thought that I'd find someone that could fill my heart the way Alberto did and I did so I'm just happy."

"I'm happy too and trust me, this is only going to get better." He kissed her hair. They stayed like that until it was time to go pick the kids up, starting with Valentina who mecame giddy as soon as they talked about ice cream, rendering the surprise moot for the four older ones, the happy news slipping out as soon as she saw her brothers.

All five kids had fun at the pier, enjoying pizza and fries before they walked towards the ice cream stands, everyone digesting all the food they had eaten.

"Alright guys so since it was a big day today and the last day of school, what do you guys think of two scoops each?" Matt looked at Gabby with an evil grin, all the kids yelling of happiness.

"You are dealing with all five of them if they become too hyper." She hissed at him, only making him laugh more.

"Promise." He kissed her.

They enjoyed a nice family night together by the pier and enjoyed the beautiful sunset before heading home. It took all the convincing in the world to get the kids in bed and as promised, Matt took care of all of the until they all tired themselves out, Matt included. Gabby took care of bringing the kids to their beds, Matt having fallen asleep on the couch.


a/n: So here it is. Still not impressed with myself on this one but I'll try to do better the next one. So next chapter we'll see them hunt more seriously and we'll get to see the big summer hoopla with the birthday party and all. Please take a few seconds to review even if you don't like it because I'm really not sure about it. - Sarra